By the time opening day for “Spider-Man 3” ended, Sony pictures had about 104 million little reasons to be happy with their movie. Viewers, on the other hand, only had four or five, minus the $10.25 they spent to see the super-hyped third installation in the Spider-Man series.

Immediately after seeing “Spider-Man 2” on opening day about a year ago, I had decided that there was not a chance that I would miss seeing “Spider-Man 3” in theaters. Tickets were hard to come by, but after an extensive search on Fandango, an obscure theater in Redwood City ended up having a few available.

With the Spider-Man movies already firmly established in yearly Hollywood actions flicks (i.e. Pirates of the Carribean, Harry Potter, X-Men), it seemed as if “Spider-Man 3” would build upon the storylines of the first two movies. However, this was not the case.

As was seen in the earlier movies, Peter Parker (acted by Tobey Maquire) continues to lead a tumultuous relationship with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). It looks as if their relationship is going well as Peter watches Mary Jane’s Broadway play, however, things turn for the worse when the play receives bad reviews and Mary Jane is fired. From here on out, we see Mary Jane being bitter about living in Peter Parker’s shadow.

Immediately after seeing Peter at Mary Jane’s play, Spider-Man’s enemies are revealed. In progressing order: (1), Harry Osborn (played by Palo Alto native James Franco), Peter’s high school buddy, decides to follow in his father’s evil footsteps, thus becoming the Goblin reincarnate and the first of Spider-Man’s enemies; (2) The petty criminal (played by Thomas Haden Church) and killer of Peter’s uncle (Cliff Robertson) in “Spider-Man 1” is morphed into the immortal Sandman; and (3) Venom, an extraterrestrial substance rockets into earth in a meteorite and somehow finds its way to Peter’s apartment.

Venom eventually takes hold of Peter and forms a “second skin” which multiplies the evil in Peter’s soul. While Venom is “in control” of Peter, we see one of the main reasons why “Spider-Man 3” was not as well made as it could have been. At times, sections of dialogue and acting were corny to the point of being almost unwatchable. However, director Sam Raimi does do a nice job of illustrating how much control Venom has over Peter.

Venom is the first nemesis that Peter conquers. Through the help of those around him, mainly his Aunt May (played by Rosemary Harris) and Mary Jane, Peter realizes that Venom is slowly taking control of him. Peter then proceeds to tear Venom from his body in a graphic scene illustrating the maliciousness of the parasite.

While Peter is fighting Venom, Harry Osborn discovers that Spider-Man in fact did not kill his father. Through this revelation, Osborn softens his views towards Peter and seems to be open towards Peter’s advances for peace.

However, with the elimination of one enemy, Peter made himself another one. Venom, being ripped out of Spider-Man, finds itself another host in Eddie Brock (acted by Topher Grace). With his newfound powers and amplified maliciousness, Brock teams up with Sandman to fight Spider-Man and Osborn.

Spider-Man 3: Action. Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco. Directed by Sam Raimi. (PG-13. 139 minutes. Showing at theaters throughout the U.S. For movie listings, show times, and tickets visit http://www.fandango.com/)